Noise response annoys
AFTER my letter (Helpless in the face of anti-social noise) was published in The Star, I receieved a response from Ian Ashmore, head of environmental regulation, Sheffield City Council.
While we may have had an apology due to our complaint initially being ignored for several months this does not make it right. Neither does it make up for the distress this ongoing problem is causing our family.
We actually contacted the 101 number this Friday just before midnight. The operator told us that they were very busy and we would be lucky if anyone was able to get out to our property.
We then received a further phone call from a gentleman who was the out of hours officer that evening who, to our horror, said they had a few parties to attend to that evening and would it be possible for them to visit us another time. I am sure you can imagine what our response was.
I was especially disappointed after having a recent conversation with a manager from environmental health who assured me they would start prioritising cases so people who had long on-going cases wouldn't get missed all the time.
We then received another phonecall from the same officer around 1.15am who said they could visit but it would take them 20 to 30 minutes to get to our address.
Luckily, the noise stopped around 1.30am so I was able to contact 101 and advise them not to come out so they could visit someone else who was further down the list than we were.
While I do think the idea of having officers on duty during evenings is a good idea I think the fact that it would have taken them nearly two hours to visit us or we may have not been seen at all proves my point that more resources and training are needed.
I'm sure having two teams on duty from October 2009, as Mr Ashmore stated, will help this problem but this is little comfort to us and others having the same problems when that is four months away.
He also states that they will be getting another noise recording machine to help improve the waiting lists for this equipment. Again, unless this helps me and my partner get a noise box installed any sooner, this is little comfort to us and I'm sure the saga will continue for many months.
Laura, Sheffield
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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